


The Reformation of Sawada Tsunayoshi

by damedanbo



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2020-07-10 12:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19906057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damedanbo/pseuds/damedanbo
Summary: If you haven't gained powers by your sixteenth birthday, you never will. Everyone knows that, Tsuna better than anyone. As his sixteenth birthday ticks by and he remains powerless, Tsuna worries he will be doomed to a life as an F-rank nobody.But when the hero- and villain-reformer Reborn finds him, Tsuna is yanked from his every day life into the world of mystical powers, A-ranks, showdowns, and supervillains. Can he survive without powers? Or will he find what he was looking for in himself?Hero/villain au.





	1. Chapter 1

It was too hot to sleep. Tsuna lay awake, staring at the dim darkness of his ceiling, trying desperately to think of somewhere colder. Alaska. Antarctica. Nova Scotia.

None of it worked. Winter had been so long ago, he couldn't remember what "chilly" felt like anymore. He only felt hot, and sticky, and stressed. Too stressed to sleep, for sure.

The red glow of his alarm clock rolled over to midnight and Tsuna sighed. With that, it was officially October 14, and he was officially sixteen. In any other life, it could have been a happy occasion, cause for celebration, but not this time. In this world, lying in the dark, Tsuna had just turned sixteen and doomed himself to normalcy forever.

Nobody exhibited powers after sixteen. Everyone knew that, Tsuna most of all. He'd been dreading this day for years, the deadline for his powers to manifest and lift him out of cursed normalcy.

He rolled over, away from his alarm clock, staring at the blank wall next to his bed. He'd wanted, for years, to be a hero, to save people and protect innocents from harm. Every since he was a kid, it had been his only goal in life--to be like the top heroes, the S-rank immortals who held the world in their palms. It was his dream.

Well, it was over now. No one's powers had ever manifested after their sixteenth birthday. It was a lost cause. Tsuna rolled over again, glaring at his clock in the dark, and finally got out of bed. He was fully dressed, black sweatshirt, black sweats, and dull grey socks. Grabbing his tattered shoes from his closet, he slid open his window and crawled outside, into the night.

His bedroom was on the second floor, but Tsuna was used to sneaking out this way. Not that his mom would have stopped him from going out the front door, but he’d rather not have to see her right now. He didn’t want to hear any birthday wishes. He dropped to the hard, cool ground and rolled, stopping to put his shoes on, then got up and slipped out through the garden gate.

Tsuna already knew where he was going. He hadn't exactly planned it, but knew he would end up there when the time came. When he turned sixteen without powers. He ran through the dark streets, old sneakers beating on pavement, breath gasping in and out of his lungs. Soon he had to stop, hands on his knees, bent over and heaving. Despite all his training, trying to force his powers to emerge, his endurance wasn’t that great.

When he recovered, Tsuna walked the rest of the way to the memorial museum. It stood out in the dark, the huge statue of the first hero rising into the night, towering over the city. Watching over it.

The museum was locked, he knew, at this time of night. Tsuna didn’t even try the front doors, but went right over the chain link fence wrapping around the base of the statue, hopping down on the other side. He barely came up to the top of the statue’s foot. Glancing around to make sure no one had seen him, Tsuna ran from the fence to the stairs that looped around the great statue, taking them two at a time (and pausing halfway to catch his breath.)

The top of the stairs came out near the statue’s head, and Tsuna walked around the winding catwalk to face the statue. Giotto, the first S-rank hero, stared passively out at the city of Namimori, great carved stone eyes looking right through Tsuna. Tsuna gulped, and stepped closer. He’d seen this statue before, every year since kindergarten during school trips to the museum, but never had he been alone to talk to it.

“Giotto,” he started, voice echoing in the empty memorial. Giotto didn’t answer him, of course. Tsuna swallowed again and started over.

“I really thought I was going to get powers in the end,” Tsuna said softly, hanging his head. “But now I guess I’ll never be like you.”

A light over the statue flickered and went out briefly. Tsuna lifted his head, looking past Giotto’s carved locks to the offending illuminator. 

“I don’t know what to do with my life now,” Tsuna admitted. He’d always counted on becoming an S-rank. Now he couldn’t even make it as a sidekick. 

Another light went out. Tsuna glared up at the platform that circled around the tip-top of Giotto’s spiky hair. Who was taking care of this place? They were F-rank at their job. 

The whole memorial suddenly went dark, and Tsuna yelped, grabbing onto the railing instinctively. Something whipped past him in the shadows, hissing all the way. Tsuna pressed his back against the railing, fists white-knuckled as he clung to it, trying to get away from whatever it was. The thing knocked into him with an “oomf” and Tsuna stumbled away and ran, fumbling in the dark and tumbling down the stairs to the landing below. He staggered to his feet, counting his limbs to make sure they were all there, and dashed down the next flight of stairs to the ground level.

“Stop where you are!” A commanding voice yelled, and suddenly there were lights everywhere. Tsuna froze, squinting and shading his eyes from the bright lights. “Put your hands up!” The same voice called, and Tsuna threw his hands in the air. He blinked rapidly, trying to see past the intense glare to the person (people?) behind it.

Someone walked forward from behind the light and Tsuna relaxed. It was a city defender, dressed in red and blue, silver badge gleaming on his chest.

“Officer, I’m glad you’re here,” Tsuna said, “there’s something upstairs-”

“Can it, brat,” the defender snapped, grabbing his wrist and yanking it down. He spun Tsuna around, and Tsuna felt and heard the cuffs go on, too shocked to say anything. “Where’s your friend?” the defender asked. Tsuna didn’t have an answer for that.

“Check out the catwalk,” the defender called, and three more officers came forward, storming up the stairs with their flashlights to inspect the area. Tsuna slumped, hands chained behind in back in energy depleting bonds, designed to dampen powers. How had this happened? He’d just been talking to the statue--sure, he’d trespassed, but was that really such a big deal?

“Chief!” One of the defenders called from upstairs. “It’s not good.”

The chief defender left Tsuna with another officer and headed up the stairs to the catwalk. He was gone for a few minutes, then came storming back down, the other three behind him.

“You wanna explain yourself, son?”

“Look, I don’t know how the lights went out, but I think there was someone up there--”

“Enough. I’m talking about the graffiti you left all over Captain Giotto. You think defacing a public monument is funny, kid? You think you’re tough?”

“Wha…” Graffiti?  _ The hissing noise he’d heard in the dark--spray paint, maybe?  _ “I didn’t graffiti anything! I was just talking to the statue!”

The defenders laughed, and the one standing behind him shoved him forward slightly.

“Hear that boys? He was  _ talking to the statue.” _

“I was!” Tsuna cried. It was the truth, he’d only gone up there to mope around with Giotto. 

“Let’s take him to the pit, boys,” the leader of the defenders said, grabbing Tsuna sharply by the shoulder and pushing him into the bright light at the end of the property. Tsuna squinted as they got nearer, until he had to squeeze his eyes shut. He was manhandled into a vehicle, then the door slammed, and he was alone again for a few moments.

From there, he could see the statue, or at least the half illuminated by the defenders’ lights. The head and shoulders were still cast in darkness. Tsuna still couldn’t believe something like this had happened, to him, of all people. And when it wasn’t even his fault! He knew there was something else up there, someone--

Tsuna gasped, as a rippling shadow dropped down from the catwalk to the mid-level stairs, then slipped over the railing and disappeared. What was that? Some kind of monster? A villain? His eyes darted about, trying to spot it again, and he did, as it was melting over the fence. “Hey!” Tsuna yelled, shoving himself against the door to the car. “You!”

The rippling dark figure paused, as if it had heard him. It moved, pulled at itself, and from out of nothing a head appeared: tan skin, curly dark hair, and a shit-eating grin plastered on their face. It was a kid, younger than him, dressed in some kind of invisible shadow suit. That was the real vandal!

The kid stuck his tongue out at Tsuna and replaced the mask onto his head. Then he disappeared into the shadows entirely, melting into the black like sugar into coffee. Tsuna stared after him, shocked.

“Alright, punk,” one of the defenders said, climbing into the driver’s seat. His partner sat down beside him. “You’re going to the pit.”

“Didn’t you see that kid?” Tsuna asked. “He’s the vandal! You could still catch him!”

“Can you shut up?” the other defender said, taking her cap off and carding her fingers through her short hair. “You’re in enough trouble already.”

Tsuna gaped at her, then slumped, defeated, into his seat. 

So, he was going to the pit. Mom would be so proud.

Most of the night after that was a hopeless blur of mugshots and fingerprints and being shoved around by defenders, in their armored bodysuits. He got his one phone call and tried to call home, but mom didn’t answer. Who knew what time it was at this point- one, two a.m.? She was probably sound asleep.

“In you go,” a defender said, shoving Tsuna into a holding cell. Tsuna staggered and righted himself, biting his lip and staring around at the other criminals in the pit.

There were two of them. A kid his age, with silver hair to his jaw, glaring at Tsuna, and another guy, asleep on the bench. Tsuna gulped and gave a little wave. The guy with silver hair sneered at him, and looked away.

Well, it was going to be a long night.

“Arrested!” Sawada Nana cried, hand covering her face. “I can’t believe this, Tsuna! I never thought my own son was a criminal!”

“Mom,” Tsuna started, but she wasn’t hearing him.

“After all the work your father has done for heroes, all the times you wished for your powers, I never thought you would turn to villainy!”

“I didn’t-!”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Nana said, turning away. “I can’t believe this.”

“Because it’s not true!”

The defender in the room stepped forward, tossing a stack of printed photos on the table between them. Nana cried out sharply, and Tsuna tilted his head to look at them. It was the statue of Captain Giotto, but heavily vandalized; covered in green and black and red tags, totally illegible and hopefully removeable. Tsuna’s heart sank. This was what was being pinned on him, then?

“If it were up to me, he’d be in lockdown with the other villains,” the defender spat. Tsuna cringed. Namimori might not have a lot of local villains to speak of, but they were still dangerous people. “Unfortunately, it’s not up to me.”

“Who is it up to?” Nana asked, sniffling and wiping her face on a handkerchief.

“That would be me,” a young voice called out from the doorway. Everyone turned to look. It was a  _ kid,  _ maybe seven years old, eight at the most, dressed in a sharp suit and a fedora tipped down over their eyes. Tsuna couldn’t help but snort, and Nana tilted her head, confused.

“Good to see you, Mister Reborn,” the defender said, bowing to the kid. “We’ve got quite the situation here.”

“I see that,” Mister Reborn said, letting the door shut behind him and walking towards the table. He hopped up on the third available chair, sitting cross-legged in it.

“Sorry, who’s this kid?” Tsuna asked, trying not to laugh.

“Show some respect, worm,” the defender snapped, smacking him across the back of the head. Tsuna yelped.

“Ciao,” Mister Reborn said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a business card. He handed it to Nana. “This is for you, miss.”

“Oh, thank you,” Nana said, taking it in both hands and reading it. “Hero trainer?”

“I train heroes,” Reborn said, smiling up at her. He had dark, totally black eyes, and a funny smile. “Have you heard of Nono?”

Nana gasped. “Of course I have!”

“Of course you have,” Reborn said. “So, I guess that settles things. I’ll be taking care of no-good Tsuna.”

“No-good-! Watch yourself!” Tsuna cried. Reborn leapt out of his seat and slapped him across the face.

“Don’t interrupt. I’ll be taking Tsuna with me, to enter the hero rehabilitation program at my training center.”

“That’s wonderful!” Nana cried.

“Wait, but I don’t have any--ow!” Tsuna cried, as Reborn slapped him again.

“Mister Reborn, are you sure this is the best idea?” The defender asked. 

Reborn was silent a long moment. If it weren’t for the fact that his eyes were open, he almost appeared to be asleep.

“Of course,” the defender said. “Sorry, sir.”

“I don’t want to go!” Tsuna cried.

“It’s that or jail time,” the defender snapped. Tsuna shut his mouth.

Reborn tipped his hat down, covering his eyes again. “Well then, let’s go. No point in wasting any more time here.” He stood, hopping out of his chair, and beckoned for Tsuna to follow him. The defender grabbed the back of Tsuna’s chair and shoved him out of it. Tsuna scrambled to his feet, glaring back at the defender, and followed Reborn, unsure of himself.

“Bye bye, Tsuna!” Nana called after them. “Good luck at hero rehabilitation!”

_ But I don’t have powers! This doesn’t make any sense! _

The defenders let them out without question, and a car was waiting for them out front. Reborn hopped into the back seat, and Tsuna hesitantly slid in after him.

“You must be confused,” Reborn said as the car pulled away from the curb. “I’m sure you are.”

“Yeah, a little…”

“I reviewed the security footage at Giotto’s memorial statue. Your cyberkinetic powers really came in handy, huh?”

“Cyberkin--I don’t have powers! I really don’t! I was just there to talk to the statue, nothing more!”

“Be quiet,” Reborn said, in the same level tone, but Tsuna got the impression that he was being snapped at. “My hero rehabilitation and training course is perfect for a societal reject like you.”

“Rejec--” Tsuna stopped himself before Reborn could cut him off or slap him again. It was kind of true. He wasn’t any good at school, at sports, he couldn’t talk to guys, let alone girls, and he didn’t have any friends to speak of. Reborn had hit the nail on the head. Tsuna looked away, biting his lip and staring down at his dirty sweats.

“It’s outside of town, so settle in. It’ll be a long ride,” Reborn said, leaning back into his seat. Tsuna sighed, leaning against the car window and closing his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Reborn’s training center was a few hours out of town, as it turned out. Tsuna awoke, finding drool smeared on his window, and shook the grogginess from his head to clear it. They were still on the highway, and the scenery flew past, blurring into nothing quite visible. Tsuna looked over at Reborn, whose eyes were open, but who appeared to be napping.

What a weird kid.

The driver turned off the highway and took them down a long dirt road for a few more miles. The car jumped along the path, but Reborn remained asleep as they left the world behind. Tsuna became increasingly nervous as the highway disappeared behind them. There didn’t seem to be anything around for miles.

The Training and Rehabilitation Center for Wayward Youth came up in the distance, a polite, simple sign announcing their destination some ways down the road from it. Tsuna gulped. It looked kind of like a prison.

No, exactly like a prison!

There was a dirt yard with barbed wire at the top of the tall fence, and guard towers surrounding it. The place was a compound, all sealed doors and keypads everywhere. There were bars on the windows! The car pulled up into a paved driveway, and when it stopped, the driver came around to let Reborn out. Tsuna climbed out on his side, legs shaking.

“Well, let’s go,” Reborn said, leading the way inside. Tsuna stumbled and followed.

Inside, it was all white walls and bright lights. Tsuna followed Reborn down a long hallway, growing increasingly nervous and starting to consider running away. He could probably make it halfway to the highway before his legs gave out.

“Don’t even think about running away,” Reborn said, looking over his shoulder at Tsuna with his shiny black eyes. Tsuna gulped and shook his head quickly.

Reborn stood by as Tsuna received a change of clothes, a bedroll, and some basic hygienic supplies from a storage room with a flickering light. Then they continued down the long hall, Tsuna overburdened with his new things and Reborn not offering to help.

Finally, they came to a door with a barred off window in it, and Reborn put his hand up to the keypad to let it scan him in. The door swung open, and Reborn gestured for Tsuna to enter. Tsuna stepped inside, clutching his supplies, looking around, frightened, at the others in lockdown.

Wait a minute--how was this better than jail time, exactly?!

“See you later,” Reborn said, and the door latched behind him. Tsuna looked back at it, then quickly turned forward again, not wanting to have his back to any troubled youths.

“Hey!” One of them called, approaching and slinging an arm over his shoulder. “Welcome! I’m Yamamoto Takeshi. You must be the vandal we heard about!” He was a tall, tan boy with black hair and brown eyes, and freckles on his cheeks. He looked kinda… normal.

Tsuna’s knees very nearly gave out beneath him. He nodded, throat too dry to speak.

“That was pretty bold, spray painting the statue like that! It was on the tv,” Yamamoto said, gesturing with his other hand at the old fashioned box tv attached to the wall. It was playing the news, and a reporter was talking about the vandalism now. One of Tsuna’s mugshots came up over the video of the ruined statue. 

He might seriously faint.

“I’m Ryohei!” Another guy yelled, tall and white-haired. He rushed forward to shake Tsuna’s hands, making him drop all his stuff. “You should join my team!” Yamamoto laughed. Ryohei continued to jerk Tsuna’s arms up and down. Finally he released him, at Yamamoto’s suggestion, and Tsuna dropped to his knees, half out of fear and half to pick up the stuff he’d dropped. Yamamoto crouched to help him.

“Your room is probably this way,” Yamamoto said, helping him carry his stuff through the main room and down another hall. Ryohei followed behind them, shadowboxing.  “It looks like you don’t have a roommate yet!”

_ Oh, thank goodness.  _ He wouldn’t have to worry about being shanked in his sleep.

Yamamoto and Ryohei helped set up his room a bit (Ryohei mostly just yelled and punched things) and when he was settled in--it didn’t take long--Yamamoto invited him to come meet the rest of the societal rejects.

Well, what he said was “come meet everyone!”

What Tsuna heard was “I’m taking you to meet a bunch of criminals and possibly get killed!”

Ryohei dragged him by his shoulders down the hall as Yamamoto led the way, laughing and chattering amicably back at him. Tsuna felt dizzy. Surely there was some way to get out of this crazy scenario. House arrest? Community service? He’d do anything to go home right now!

Yamamoto threw open a pair of double doors and sunlight streamed in. Ryohei pulled Tsuna out into the yard and stood him up, where he shook and swayed.

“Hey!” Yamamoto called, and all action in the yard ceased. Troubled youths turned to look at them, glaring. Tsuna shrank back against Ryohei’s chest behind him. “This is the vandal who messed up Giotto’s statue!”

_ Don’t introduce me like that!  _

The yard was silent for a moment, other than a basketball dribbling and rolling away, and Tsuna thought he was a goner. But then everyone started to cheer, clapping and coming forward to pat him on the shoulder and introduce themselves.

“I’m Haru! Miura Haru! Just call me Haru though! You’re Tsunayoshi, right? I love your work!” The girl’s brunette ponytail bobbed as she shook his hand with vigor.

“My work?” Tsuna asked, arm bouncing up and down.

“Yes! Your graffiti! You did a great job!”

“Thanks?” Tsuna said, as Haru was shoved out of the way by a guy with blond hair and scars on his face.

“Keh! You don’t look like much. What’s your ability?”

“Don’t be rude!” Haru cried, shoving him back. “You can’t just ask him that!”

“Energy manipulation,” another boy said; a guy in a beanie and glasses.

“How would you know?” the blond spat, baring his sharp teeth.

“Saw it on the news.”

“Um,” Tsuna said, shriveling away from the argument. Yamamoto laughed, clapping him on the shoulder, and walked away to talk to another boy, leaned against the fence. Ryohei had jogged off somewhere and was hollering to himself. Now seemed as good a time as any to slip away and disappear, maybe find a way out of this place. Tsuna turned to sneak off, and bumped right into someone.

“Sorry--oh!” he gasped, recognizing the boy he’d walked into. “You were in the pit with me, right?”

That must have been the wrong thing to say, because the silver haired boy scowled at him darkly, shoving him back. Tsuna stumbled against the blond kid and Haru, still arguing, and barely stopped himself from falling over.

“Hey!” the blond boy yelled, snapping his teeth at Tsuna before prowling away. Haru looked shot him one last dirty look, flashed a smile at Tsuna, and then produced another scowl to direct at the silver haired boy.

“I thought you escaped, Stupidera.”

“They brought me back. Who’s this runt,” Stupidera asked, jerking his chin in Tsuna’s direction.

“Tsunayoshi! He spray painted the Giotto statue.”

The boy’s eyes narrowed. “I see.” He stepped closer, arms crossed over his chest, and pushed up into Tsuna’s personal space so that they were almost nose to nose. Tsuna tried not to whimper as Stupidera loomed over him.

“Just so you know, I call the shots around here, punk. Watch yourself.”

“I’m fine with that,” Tsuna squeaked, voice crackling with fear.

“Good. It’s Gokudera, by the way.” He glared at Haru and stalked off, shoving past them both.

“You don’t have to listen to him,” Haru whispered. “He’s just a jerk. He’s not even that tough!”

“I’d just rather not get into any trouble with  _ anyone _ ,” Tsuna said, voice still quaking. “I just want to go home.”

“Everyone does at first, but you get used to it. Hey, Tsunayoshi…” Haru leaned in. “Just curious… what  _ is  _ your power?”

Tsuna stared at her a moment. Could he trust Haru? She seemed like the nicest kid in here, and she had stood up to Gokudera for him. “The truth is…”

Haru leaned in, smiling.

“I don’t have one. This is all some big misunderstanding.”

Haru’s face fell slightly, and she straightened up, frowning a bit. “Oh!” she said suddenly, slapping a fist into her palm. “I get it! It’s a secret.”

“No! There’s no secret, I--”

“You don’t have to tell me!” Haru said. “It’s your secret. But I’ll find out someday!”

_ You don’t have to tell me, but I’ll find out someday? Talk about mixed messages! _

“I’m gonna go talk to Nagi,” Haru decided, looking over her shoulder at someone across the yard. “You can come if you want!”

“I think I’ll just… go back inside,” Tsuna said, taking a few steps back now that the conversation seemed to be dying off. Haru waved him goodbye and ran off to find her friend, and Tsuna spun around again, opening the doors to slip through back into the hallway.

He went to his assigned room first, and tried to find some way to barricade himself inside. The door didn’t appear to lock, and upon further inspection, there was also nothing to do in there. Tsuna returned to the main common area soon after, sitting down at one of the tables and staring off at the tv. They were still talking about the statue. His bewildered mugshot came up on the screen once more, with the word CONTAINED slapped over it.

Tsuna groaned and lowered his head.

Dinner was served in the cafeteria. Tsuna had yet to see any of the people running this place, besides Reborn, so he wasn’t sure who had cooked it, but he had some complaints. Everything appeared to be either burned or frozen on the inside, or some strange mix of the two; besides that, the flavor combinations were weird, as if someone had thrown together a bunch of different ideas and called it food. He wasn’t really sure what was in the stew left for him, but he was hungry enough to at least try to eat it anyway.

He turned, leaving the dinner line, and looked out at the cafeteria. It was smaller than a school cafeteria, for sure. Not many people seemed to live here. He looked around at the four tables, three of them occupied by other delinquents (delinquents! He would have never called himself that before!) and one of them empty. Haru was sitting over with Yamamoto and Ryohei, but none of them had noticed him where he stood. He didn’t really feel like being prodded with questions and small talk right now. The empty table was probably the best place for him.

Tsuna sat at one of the four supplied chairs, setting his tray down and settling in. He picked up his plastic spork, poking at the lumpy stew and watching it undulate in the bowl of the tray. Well, that was appetizing. He decided to start with the bread instead--or not, as it appeared to be moldy. He finally settled on a piece of half frozen cauliflower, crunching on it and whimpering at the cold sensation.

Nothing changed, but a shiver ran down Tsuna’s back. The hair at the nape of his neck stood on end. It felt like he was standing in the shade on a crisp autumn day. He turned slowly, looking over his shoulder and up at the boy standing behind him.

“Hi?” he asked. The quiet lull of conversation in the cafeteria had stilled. Even Ryohei had stopped yelling.

“Tsunayoshi!” Haru hissed, waving at him. “Don’t sit at that table!”

“Why?” Tsuna hissed back. He jolted as the boy grabbed his chair and yanked it back, then kicked it hard enough to send him skidding across the cafeteria into the far wall. Tsuna hit it with an “oomf” and toppled out of the chair to the floor. He stood slowly, shoulder sore, and turned to face his attacker

The other boy, with messy black hair and a small build, had settled into the chair beside Tsuna’s food, which he promptly shoved onto the floor with a clatter. The stew splattered all over the floor in chunks. Everyone in the room seemed to be watching him or Tsuna, or flickering their attention from one to the other.

“Tsunayoshi, don’t try to fight him!” Haru cried suddenly, jumping to her feet. “He’s dangerous!”

“Hey, let’s not,” Yamamoto said, laughing and trying to make Haru sit down.

“I’m not?” Tsuna said, confused. The food hadn’t even been that good. He’d gladly go without it.

“Heh,” Gokudera said, from the fourth table. He was also sitting alone. “No, by all means. You two should fight. Let’s see who’s the bigger man. Maybe I’ll even join in.” He stood, stalking towards Tsuna.

“Stop it!” Haru cried.

“I don’t want to fight anyone,” Tsuna said, putting his hands up. “I was just eating?”

“Nice try,” Gokudera said, grabbing Tsuna by the front of his shirt and yanking him closer. “You’ve been looking to challenge me all day, haven’t you?”

“No!” Tsuna said. “It wouldn’t even be a fair fight, I don’t--”

“Powers don’t matter here,” Gokudera said. “These walls are bursting with energy depleting material. Even the fence outside is made from it. Nobody can use their powers here, not you or me or anyone. Doesn’t that make it fair? Just two guys, fighting with their fists?”

“Shut up,” the black haired boy called, chewing on his stew.

Gokudera whipped his head around to look at him, grip on Tsuna’s shirt loosening. Tsuna saw his chance and took it; he ducked and ran forward, tackling Gokudera to the ground and climbing on top of him. Gokudera, too startled to react, lay on the ground, blinking up at him. Tsuna stared back. He’d never been in a fight before.

...What was he supposed to do now?

“Hit him!” Haru yelled gleefully. Tsuna made a fist, staring at it. Like this?

Before he could deliver a punch, the door to the cafeteria opened and a boy stumbled in. Everyone turned to look, except for the black haired boy at the third table. Even Gokudera strained his neck to see.

“I’m back, Stupidera! They caught me too!” the kid proclaimed, regaining his balance and prancing into the cafeteria. Tsuna’s eyes narrowed in recognition. 

“You--”

“Hey, Lambo’s back,” Gokudera said, shoving Tsuna off and standing. “So you got caught, huh? Stupid.”

“The one who says stupid first is stupid, stupid!” Lambo said, squeezing his eyes shut and sticking out his tongue.

“You called me Stupidera first, idiot!”

“Shut up!”

“You’re that kid!” Tsuna cried, standing and pointing an accusing finger. “You were the one at the statue!”

Lambo blinked, looking over at him. Recognition dawned on his face, and he quickly looked away, biting his lip. Gokudera looked between the two of them, and walked over to Lambo, grabbing his arm.

“What’d you do.”

“Nothing! He’s a liar!”

“Tell me what you did, stupid!”

“Nooooo!” Lambo cried, falling to the floor and kicking his legs. “I didn’t do anything!”

“You’re the one who took out the lights at the statue! And I bet you did the graffiti too!”

“Nuh-uh!” Lambo wailed, biting Gokudera’s arm until the older boy released him.

“YOU got this punk thrown in here then?” Gokudera asked, smacking Lambo on the back of his head. “Jackass!”

“I didn’t do iiiiiiit,” Lambo groaned, laying down on the floor.

“Hey,” Gokudera said, looking back at Tsuna. “Sorry about this brat. You should get another tray and sit with me.”

“Don’t do it, he’s evil!” Haru cried.

“His hair is ugly!” Ryohei roared.

“Keep it to yourself, turf-top!” Gokudera hollered back. “What do you say?”

Tsuna, bewildered by the change in attitude, agreed.

“So that’s Haru, Yamamoto, and Ryohei. All idiots,” Gokudera said, pointing. “Over there is Ken, Chikusa and Chrome. Mostly idiots too. That guy sitting alone is Hibari. Nobody talks to him. And this is Lambo.”

Lambo stuck his tongue out and shoveled food in his mouth, barely stopping to breathe.

“Everyone’s in here for doing something stupid. I guess you’re the exception to that rule.”

Well, he had trespassed at the memorial statue, but that hardly seemed worthy of mention.

“Me, I blew up my school. No one was in it or anything!” Gokudera rushed to explain. “But I did blow it up.”

“He got mad,” Lambo explained, stew dribbling down his chin.

“Lambo here keeps tagging monuments.”

“It’s fun!”

“What about the others?” Tsuna asked, looking around at the other tables. He still hadn’t touched his fresh tray of not-so-fresh food.

“Eh, I don’t know. I don’t really hang out with those guys.”

“Hibari killed some guys,” Lambo whispered.

“Shut up, stupid, he’d be in MAX if that happened.” Gokudera returned his attention to Tsuna. “You got framed. Sorry. There’s not really any way out of it now, though. Once Reborn throws you in here, you’re kind of stuck here.”

“No one’s ever gotten out,” Lambo said, waggling his fingers.

“No one?” Tsuna whispered.

“Well, I mean, the program’s only been around a few years, so. No one so far.”

Tsuna’s shoulders slumped. From the sounds of it, he was going to have to serve out whatever sentence had been decided on for him. His mom had been all too happy to send him away; she probably wouldn’t do anything to get him out now.

“H-hey, don’t worry though! You’ve got a friend on the inside now,” Gokudera said. Tsuna looked up, confused. “Me!” Gokudera stressed, pointing to himself.

“You?

“Well, I mean, I don’t really want to be, but if you insist…” Lambo rolled his eyes at Gokudera’s reluctant act.

“I… I think I could use a friend,” Tsuna said. “Thanks, Gokudera.”

“Of course!” Gokudera said, grinning widely. “So, first things first, don’t hang with the welcoming wagon or the Kokuyo freaks. They’re all losers. And steer clear of Hibari. All you need is me and Lambo.”

Tsuna laughed nervously, leaning away. “I appreciate it and all, but those guys seem nice, actually, so…”

“--no, I’m gonna go talk to them!” Haru’s voice cut in. She yanked out the chair next to Tsuna and dropped down beside him. Yamamoto sighed, relenting, and leaned against the table they’d been sitting at, watching from a distance. “Hi Tsunayoshi! Stupidera, Lambo.”

“Hi Haru!” Lambo chirped.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you’re trying to  _ indoctrinate  _ Tsunayoshi,” Haru said, nose in the air.

“Move along, ugly,” Gokudera said, leaning back in his chair. “No one invited the hag brigade.”

“Tsunayoshi!” Haru said, turning to beam at him. “Don’t you think this guy is a little  _ crass  _ for your tastes?”

“Don’t you think he can decide that for himself?”

“Weren’t you  _ just  _ trying to tell him not to talk to me or my friends?!”

“Um,” Tsuna said, and was ignored.

“You and your friends are losers! Why would he need to talk to any of you?!”

“You’re the loser! You think you’re  _ so  _ tough because you’re A-rank! You’re not! You’re-- you’re a nobody!”

“I’m the nobody? Little miss garden mishaps is going to call ME a nobody?”

“At least I didn’t blow up my school!”

“D-rank!” 

“Bastard!”

“Bitch!”

Tsuna stood and slipped away in the midst of their argument, completely unnoticed. Only Lambo waved to him as he left. He dumped his tray in the garbage and left the cafeteria, heading down the hallway to the dormitories.

There, he closed the door and flopped onto the thin bedroll over the frame. It had been a long, long day. Tsuna shut his eyes and rolled over, ready to fight against himself for sleep. Instead, he was unconscious in minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

An alarm screamed through the compound. Tsuna leapt from his bedroll, tangled in his regulation blanket, and smacked his head on the hangover of the bunk above him. He yelped, dropping to the floor in a heap and clutching his head.

“Hey, Tsuna, it looks like there’s an alarm going off,” Yamamoto poked his head into the room to inform him. 

“Yeah… yep, I noticed,” Tsuna groaned.

“I’m guessing nobody told you, but we’re supposed to meet in the cafeteria when that happens!” Yamamoto said cheerilly. “Wanna walk together?”

“I’ll meet everyone there,” Tsuna said, brushing him off. Yamamoto nodded and headed down the hall. A minute later, Lambo stuck his head into the room.

“Hey! Guess what! Hibari’s trying to break out!”

Tsuna got up then, and followed Lambo down the hall, not to the cafeteria but out into the high-fenced yard. The others had gathered there and were standing around in their jumpsuits, eyeing the black haired boy as he leapt at the fence and was thrown back to the ground again.

“He does this at least once a month,” Haru sighed. “Poor thing. People with flying powers shouldn’t be forced to stay on the ground!”

“Guess he shouldn’t have killed all those people, then,” Lambo quipped.

“He didn’t kill anyone!” Haru cried. Gokudera called to them, and Lambo ran over to join him. Tsuna wandered in their direction.

Each time Hibari leapt up to overtake the fence, a blast of light, like the edge of an invisible dome smacked him down again. It was exactly like a forcefield, unseen by the naked eye, but there, and visible if touched with force. It was obvious that without it, he would have been able to leap over and probably fly away--but clearly Reborn hard thought ahead, when he had designed this place.

The door swung open behind them, and four black-clad men with helmets rushed out. They approached Hibari from different angles; he leapt up again, and one of the men threw his hand out, bursting with lightning. Hibari fell, jolting and shaking, to the ground as the electricity flowed through him.

“Get back inside,” another of the men ordered, pointing them towards the door. They were herded back in and into the cafeteria to wait for instructions. The tables were pushed up against the far wall right now, so the group of kids sat on the floor. The alarm was still going off.

“I’m tired,” Ken, the blond guy from the day before complained loudly. “Hey, can we go back to bed?”

“No talking,” the man watching over them barked through his helmet. The doors to the cafeteria swung open, and Hibari was tossed in, skidding across the floor until he bumped into the nearest detainee--which happened to be Tsuna. He whimpered and shuffled away from the guy. The doors opened again, and Reborn strolled in, hands in his pockets.

“Well, I guess it’s that time of the month,” Reborn said. “Once again, someone has tried to escape from the center. There’s no point in trying. If you can’t do it, then don’t bother.”

He was met with silence. Hibari didn’t appear to be conscious enough to respond.

“Well, that’s all,” Reborn said, turning to leave.

“Wait!” Tsuna cried. All eyes turned on him, and he shrunk back a bit. “Um… Reborn, shouldn’t… shouldn’t, uh, someone check on him?” A glance at the half-dead boy at his feet. “Just in case he’s hurt?” It wasn’t what he’d meant to say, but if he could stretch it out long enough to think up something else--

“Okay,” Reborn said. “You do it.”

“Me?!”

“It’s a waste having two separate rooms with just one person in them, so feel free to become roommates as well.”

“What--that’s not what I meant!”

“Whatever,” Reborn said flippantly. “Everyone go back to bed.” With that, he and the masked men marched out, leaving the kids alone in the dark cafeteria.

Yamamoto and Ryohei were kind enough to carry Hibari through the compound to Tsuna’s room, where they hefted him onto the top bunk and left him to sleep it off. Tsuna found himself unable to complain much, having been the one to speak up in the first place.

So now he  _ did  _ have a roommate who might shank him in the night. Great.

Tsuna stood with his back to the wall, watching the other boy sleeping on the top bunk. What was he supposed to do? He’d never seen that kind of electric attack before on a human being. He’d be okay, right? Eventually?

“Hey,” Gokudera said from the doorway. Tsuna jolted, looking over at him. “If you’re worried about sleeping in here, you could bunk with me and Lambo.”

“Oh, uh… thank you,” Tsuna said, thoroughly relieved. The thought of going to sleep in the same room as Hibari had him nervous. “You don’t mind?”

“Hell no,” Gokudera said. “It’ll be fun. Just us guys.”

In the end, Tsuna grabbed his pillow and regulation blanket off the floor and followed Gokudera down the hall to his and Lambo’s room. Lambo was sitting up on the top bunk, picking at a loose thread in his blanket and unravelling it; he waved at Tsuna as he entered. 

“Hi Tsuna!”

“Hey…”

“You got a roommate, huh? Shouldn’ta spoke up!”

Gokudera entered behind Tsuna, and ducked his head to sit on the bottom bunk. Tsuna took a seat beside him, and leaned into the wall. He was exhausted. It was hard to fathom that all of this had happened just in the past 24 hours, but it was true. If he hadn’t gone to the statue the night before, he never would have…

Wait a second. 

“Hey,” Tsuna said, opening his eyes and sitting up. “Lambo, what were you doing at the statue?”

“Nothing!” Lambo gasped. “I didn’t do it!”

“No, I mean… how did you get there from here?”

“You mean, how did we escape?” Gokudera asked. Tsuna nodded.

“It’s easy!” Lambo crooned, popping his head down from the top bunk to look at him. “You just bury yourself in the laundry--”

“Hide in the outgoing mail--”

“Sneak through the sewers--”

“Or you can walk right out through the front doors.”

“...You what?” Tsuna gaped at them.

“Yeah, it’s not actually locked or anything. Nobody thinks to try it, though.” Gokudera picked at a hangnail.

“Even dumb Hibari doesn’t realize,” Lambo giggled. “He thinks you have to go over the fence!”

“That bird brain only thinks about flying,” Gokudera said, rolling his eyes. “Fact is, you can walk right out the front doors, jack a van outside, and drive straight back into town.”

“Then why… How did you end up back here?”

Gokuder and Lambo looked at each other. Gokudera shrugged.

“It’s easy to get out. That doesn’t mean it’s not easy to get caught again.”

“Reborn finds us every time,” Lambo sighed.

Tsuna was silent. If it really was that easy to walk out the front door… Surely he could escape from this place and disappear. Maybe he’d go north, drive along the national highway as far as it would take him. As long as he didn’t go wild spraypainting national monuments, he probably wouldn’t be brought back to this place--

“I know what you’re thinking,” Gokudera yawned, “but we didn’t get caught because of stupid stuff like shoplifting and graffiti. Reborn is… He’s kinda…”

“He’s scary,” Lambo whispered.

“He can sniff us out from anywhere. It doesn’t matter how far you go, or where you hide. He’ll find you.”

“I see,” Tsuna said, but he still had a feeling he would do better at escaping than any of the weirdos here.

They must have slept, because soon light was streaming in through the tiny, chicken-wire barred window above the bunk, and Yamamoto was poking his head into the room with a yawn.

“Morning guys!”

“Go away,” Gokudera grunted, face hidden under his pillow.

“Haha! You’re in a good mood!”

Tsuna sat up, feeling a terrible crick in his neck, and climbed off of Gokudera’s bunk. Yamamoto waited in the doorway for the three of them, and they headed in silence down the hall to the cafeteria.

The tables were back in their original positions, and the other detainees were lined up, waiting for breakfast. Hibari sat at his table, head down. At least he was alive.

Tsuna joined the end of the line, behind Haru. She looked back at him sleepily, then shook herself awake to glare at Gokudera. He didn’t appear to notice, engrossed as he was in yelling at Yamamoto.

As he was sitting down to eat--another half-hot, half-cold, all-inedible meal--the doors swung open, and young Reborn walked in again. The light chatter in the cafeteria came to a halt, and everyone stopped to look at the kid in the fedora.

“Well, let’s go,” Reborn said. “We don’t have all day.”

“Where are we going?” Haru called, as Reborn turned and headed back towards the exit. 

“Where?” Reborn looked back at them, black eyes glinting. “We’re training today. Come on.”

The detainees followed Reborn down the halls, where they were equipped with anklets and bracelets that Reborn assured them would prevent escape, or using powers. “They also can’t be removed, unless you want to tear your limbs off,” he added, smiling.

And then they were outside.

Tsuna squinted in the sunlight. He’d been out in the yard just the day before, but it seemed brighter out there now. Maybe it was the difference between the sky, hidden behind the barrier, and the naked, open sky. 

“Hurry up!” Reborn called, walking past the parked vans and down the road into the desert.

With nothing else to do and nowhere to go, they followed.

It was a long, long walk to the national highway. Once there, Reborn handed out trash bags and work gloves, “because if you get die from infection, your parents might sue.” Then he stood back, eyes open but blank, as the confused teenagers started to pick up trash.

There wasn’t really much of anything to pick up, though. The occasional cup or wrapper, which they fought over for the right to stick it in their bags. Chrome found a shoelace, torn in half. That was it.

“What are we supposed to do out here?” Tsuna asked, sweating under the heat of the unfiltered sun. Reborn didn’t answer. “You’re not asleep, are you?” Was that his power? The ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime?

“Of course not, no-good Tsuna,” Reborn said, snapping back to the waking world. “Get back to work.”

“But what are we doing? There’s hardly any trash to clean up out here.”

“Trash?” Reborn stared at him with those shiny black eyes. “Who said anything about cleaning up trash?”

“That’s not why you brought us out there?”

“Of course not. We’re here for training.”

“Then what were the bags for?!”

“Carrying the bodies back,” Reborn said darkly.

He lined everyone up in the sun. “Last night, Hibari tried to escape. But it was useless. He failed. That makes him no-good Hibari.” If the boy was listening, he made no indication of it. “After considering it, I realized that you’re all no good. No good at anything. We’re going to change that.”

Reborn pointed back in the direction they had come from. “We’re going to race back to the base.”

How childish, Tsuna thought. He had dragged them all the way out to the highway just to have a race? “Reborn, isn’t that kind of--”

“The person who beats me there can go home.”

Every last one of them perked up, suddenly ready to race. It was a long way back to the compound, but Reborn was small and young. If they could just outrun him, one of them could leave this place!

“When I give the signal, start running,” Reborn said. The group of kids prepared, stretching and crouching and readying themselves to run for their lives. 

“Five!”

“Four!”

“Three!”

The gunshot came as a surprise--a dirty trick, in a way--and Reborn was off. The quickest of them took off after him, charging through the desert. Tsuna staggered and fell over from the shock of it.

All of them were ahead of him now, except for the other girl in the compound, Chrome. It would appear that the two guys she usually hung around had abandoned her already.

“Um… I’m not a good runner, so go on ahead of me,” Tsuna offered.

“I can’t run at all,” Chrome said.

“Oh.” Okay. “Well, let’s just walk back, then.”

They started back, trudging along on the dirt road to the compound. After walking all the way out there and standing in the sun all that time, Tsuna was too tired to go very fast. Still, Chrome trailed behind, until he heard her slump and fall over into the dirt.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

“I can’t go any further…”

This wouldn’t do. He could probably make it back to the compound for help, but the sun was still high in the sky, and in the meantime, Chrome would be alone in the middle of nowhere, easy pickings for whatever kind of scavenger animals lived around here. “You can leave me here,” Chrome said softly, cheek resting in the dirt. “I’ll be okay.”

“That’s not right,” Tsuna said. “I want to get back and rest, but I wouldn’t leave even my worst enemy out here alone.”

“That’s very noble,” Chrome said.

“A-ah, no, it’s just… I think about how I would feel if everyone left me out here, and I couldn’t get back myself… Anyway, just hop on!”

With some maneuvering, he helped Chrome climb onto his back. Standing proved difficult: Chrome was extremely lightweight, but she was still at least 90-100 pounds on his back, and he’d never done any kind of lifting before. Tsuna staggered forward, straining under the weight.

“If it’s too much, you can leave me. I know you’ll send help.”

“No, this is--! It’s fine!” Tsuna yelled, sweating as he forced himself to take a step forward. Just one step, and another. Just two steps, over and over again to infinity, until they reached the compound.

He could feel himself getting sunburned as the day went on, but he was more worried about how Chrome must be feeling. She barely spoke, barely moved, except to wipe the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. She must have been exhausted, having been run out to the highway, and spending all that time in the sun.

“Chro...Chrome-chan,” Tsuna called to her, “are you pretty… sickly?” That had been his assumption, that she had anemia or something and would faint without help.

“In a way,” Chrome said, right next to his ear. “Actually, I lost most of my organs in an accident, so I can’t do anything too strenuous.”

What the hell was a girl like that doing at the rehabilitation center? Furthermore, what was Reborn thinking, making her walk all that way and then leaving her? Tsuna would give him a piece of his mind when they got back.

“It’s just a little bit farther,” Tsuna lied to her, after they took a break in the shade of a tall rock. “We’ll be there soon.”

“Okay,” Chrome said quietly. Her face was flushed, jumpsuit stained with sweat. “Thank you for helping me, Tsuna-kun.”

“O-of course.” He hadn’t even realized that she knew his name. Things were looking up!

Another mile along the road, he twisted his ankle and fell to the ground. Things were crashing down!

“Are you alright?” Chrome asked, sitting in the dirt beside him. The sun had started to slip towards the other end of the sky, threatening to set. 

“Yeah, it’s just a sprain.”

“You shouldn’t put extra weight on it,” Chrome said. “You should leave me here and go on ahead.”

“That’s…”

“You don’t have to worry about me anymore,” Chrome said. “Please just get back safely.”

“That’s not right at all!” Tsuna cried. He stood, grimacing at the pain in his ankle, and scooped her up into his arms. His upper body muscles screamed in response. He’d tried lifting weights, one time. It hadn’t gone well. It wasn’t going well now, either.

But he kept going. As the sky darkened, dusk falling over the area, a familiar shape emerged in the distance. The compound. They were close enough to see it now, even in the twilight hour. “Chrome, we’re almost there!” Tsuna wheezed, hefting her in his arms as she began to slip again. “Just hang on, okay? I won’t let you down!”

No one came out to greet them, but as they neared the compound, he could see people outside. A number of orange jumpsuits, standing around, waiting, and a little kid in black. Why wasn’t anyone running out to help them? Why hadn’t they sent a van?

Finally, he reached Reborn, and barely managed to set Chrome down safely before collapsing. His ankle throbbed, swollen and horrible inside his sock. Reborn looked him over with his shiny black eyes.

“Your time was the worst, no-good Tsuna.”

“That’s all you can say?!” Tsuna yelled. But he was too exhausted to really lay into the kid.

“That said,” Reborn continued, putting a hand up, “you could have been here quicker, if you would have just abandoned Chrome. You could have turned your back on someone in need to meet your goal, but you didn’t. You stayed with her and stuck it out to the end.”

So was it good or bad? Was he going to get some kind of reward?

“Thank you, Tsuna-kun,” Chrome said, giving him a peck on the cheek. “I’m in your debt.”

“Eh? Ah, no, it’s…” His face burned, from sunburn and embarrassment. 

“Well, let’s go inside,” Reborn said, turning to head back into the compound.

The lot of them filed inside, where their anklets and bracelets were removed and tossed into the storage room again. Tsuna was sent to the infirmary to see about getting his ankle looked at, and Chrome was ordered to drink lots of water and rest.

“I guess I did pretty well today,” Tsuna mused, gazing out of the barred window at the night sky.

“Nah, you coulda done better,” Reborn said, entering the infirmary in a doctor costume. “I mean, even Haru beat your time, by 4 hours.”

“But I helped Chrome.”

“And?”

“She could have died, or gotten really hurt if I hadn’t been there!”

“Well, anyway,” Reborn said, changing the subject (and ignoring Tsuna’s protests.) “Your ankle should be fine in a few days. Just don’t walk on it a lot.”

“Then don’t take us out in the desert to race,” Tsuna grumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”


End file.
